Chapter 99: Management of the Gentry (Part 3)
Chen Juren's housekeeper brought a list to the master, and the numbers on it confused Chen Juren. However, Chen Juren trusted his accountant, and the housekeeper made great contributions to Chen Juren's many businesses over the years. As a result, he became a small landlord with more than 100 acres of land.
"Master, Master Li sent someone to say that they only rented out half of their land."
After hearing what the housekeeper said, Mr. Chen hesitated. The reason why he rented out half of the land was simple. If he wanted to increase the rent, he had to reduce the amount of land he rented out. With less land and more people wanting to rent the land, the rent would naturally increase.
However, this kind of thing cannot be done by a single landlord. For example, if Mr. Li only rents out half of the land and raises the rent to 70%, Mr. Chen can easily rent out all the land by only collecting 65% of the rent. Mr. Li Changshou sent someone to deliver the letter just to let everyone prepare first. What to do next will have to wait until everyone meets.
Mr. Chen himself did not want to rent out only half of the land. It was hard to say what the situation would be like in the future, but at least the income would definitely be lower next year.
The housekeeper continued, "For those families who owe the master money, can we give them another year's leave? Wait until their land can no longer pay off the debt?"
"Just do it." Chen Juren answered decisively. If you want to take the land of those poor ghosts, you can't let them fight back. Chen Juren had encountered such a thing before. At that time, a poor ghost owed money. Chen Juren was young and hot-tempered, and couldn't help but take action in advance. Unexpectedly, the man's land was only sold 90% to pay off the debt, leaving only one tenth of the land in Chen Juren's land. But Chen Juren was disgusted.
The housekeeper was also well-informed. He simply asked a question and then changed the subject. "Master, the price of grain is still good this year. Do you want to sell the grain?"
Hearing this, Mr. Chen looked unhappy and said bitterly, "Last year, Huo Chong sold his food everywhere, which made us not make any money after the Chinese New Year! Will Huo Chong's men continue to make trouble this year?"
Mr. Chen was right. Some of Huo Chong's businesses had indeed closed down, but the food processing department remained in Mouping County. Local sweet potatoes were no longer used to make wine, but were processed into maltose products. The person in charge here was already a level 5 master and was already familiar with the processing. As soon as the harvest was over, the masters began to prepare, and the first batch of products had already been completed.
A large amount of sorghum candy has been cut into pieces and placed on the counter. There is not much swarming in front of the store, but there are at least a dozen people coming to buy it every hour. The taste of this candy is very different from ordinary candy that sticks to your teeth. Although it is not sweeter, it can be chewed and eaten.
The payment methods of the people who came to buy were not limited to money. They could exchange wheat, beans , sorghum, and even seafood. The store owners would not refuse.
As the business opened, Chen Juren had received the news, which made him very angry. He wanted to wait a while before meeting Li Changshou, but now he hurried to Li Changshou's house. When the two met, Chen Juren immediately said, "The Sea Dragon King usually makes a lot of noise, but now he just watches Huo Chong continue to make trouble?"
Li Changshou was not so excited. He winked at his subordinates, who immediately brought a plate up. Looking at the translucent light yellow block wrapped in something like a translucent paper that could be used, Chen Juren said angrily, "Brother Li, are you buying this too?"
Although Chen Juren was very angry, Li Changshou just sighed slightly, picked up a piece and put it in his mouth to chew. After eating a piece, he sighed: "I heard that this thing sells very well in Jinan Prefecture. But I tried many ways to find out how to make it. Brother Chen, it's useless to just get angry. This thing is cheap. If we want to get rid of Huo Chong's shop, we have to learn this."
Chen Juren turned his head away angrily, and after a while he said, "How do you want to learn it, Brother Li?"
"I want the Sea Dragon King to kidnap a few people. But he keeps making excuses and refuses."
Mr. Chen rolled his eyes and leaned close to Li Changshou and whispered. Li Changshou just nodded at first, but slowly his frown relaxed.
A few days later, some new people came to Huo Chong's candy factory to seek jobs. The person in charge of recruiting workers in Mouping County had been replaced three times, and the newcomers no longer dared to give priority to themselves in seeking benefits. They called out the workers in the factory and asked them to choose people they knew. After a selection, they first selected reliable ones. Then they selected temporary workers who were strong and capable of doing physical work.
The candidates who were waiting for the news soon found out that the people they wanted to arrange to enter the factory to learn from the factory were rejected. Even those who were not rejected were assigned to carry goods. They did not enter the production department as they wished.
When one plan failed, these people came up with another. The families of the employees in the production department of Huo Chong's factory were soon harassed, especially those who had borrowed money, and people immediately came to collect the debt.
But the group of scholars were disappointed again. Those people actually paid back the money. These poor people really paid back the money. Because they asked these people to pay back the money in advance, they even suffered losses on the interest.
Seeing that there was really no way out, Mr. Chen once again proposed to ask the Dragon King of the Sea to arrest someone for questioning. Although Mr. Li Changshou was still not happy about it, he still contacted the Dragon King of the Sea. However, when the two sides were about to reach an agreement, Li Changshou invited Mr. Chen to go and said in embarrassment: "Brother Chen, this Dragon King of the Sea is unreliable. I don't want to do it anymore."
"What?" Mr. Chen never expected that Li Changshou would back out.
Li Changshou sighed again, "Brother Chen, maybe Huo Chong's fate has not yet ended. Let's not rush and wait for Huo Chong to dig his own grave. With his current behavior, there is no telling how many people he will offend. Let's just wait and see."
Hearing the words "luck has not yet run out", Mr. Chen also wanted to retreat . So far, except for sending people to kill Huo Chong directly, the gentry of Mouping County have basically exhausted all means. Huo Chong still stands firm. It is obviously not advisable to take direct action against Huo Chong, not to say that these gentry are good men and women. They cannot conflict with Huo Chong to this extent because Huo Chong is an official. Gentlemen have a place to seek justice when something happens, and Huo Chong also has a place to seek justice when something happens. Both sides still have the same place to seek justice.
Even the wealthy gentry in Mouping County only need to spend two or three hundred taels of silver a year. Huo Chong's money is flowing out like water, and it is impossible to calculate how much money he has. The gate of the government building faces south, and no one can come in without money. Huo Chong seems to have endless money, and he has a huge advantage in lawsuits. What's more, the gentry really offended the county magistrate this time, and before the county magistrate is replaced, he can no longer expect the county magistrate to stand on the side of these gentry.
Thinking of this, Mr. Chen sighed and decided to keep silent for the time being, waiting for the opportunity to completely kill Huo Chong.
On the afternoon of the second day after Chen Juren decided to stop, the candy factory master went out to receive the goods. Suddenly, several people jumped out and started to pull people. The employees were shocked and immediately shouted loudly, "Help!"
Hearing someone cry for help, the guards at the door rushed out with sticks and fought with the kidnappers.
